Melody Sia's Blog

1 Year Anniversary

2011-10-03T00:09:00.004-04:00

As fall is upon us and I haven't updated all summer long... I'm seriously going to try harder this time. I think I say this every time I don't update for 3 months. I'd like to say I've been super busy all summer long, but I really haven't. Instead I moved again and am not used to my work space. I'm still looking for a full time job...

I want to join the Occupy Wall Street crowd, but I fear getting trampled on, pepper sprayed, arrested, squished, and the general anxiety that comes with crowds. I hope Occupy Wall Street doesn't die though. They are there fighting for people like me- college educated with professional experience and out of work for 2.5 years with no government help. How did I survive so long? Well, I was collecting unemployment for a bit, but I also had savings. Now all my savings are gone and my spotless credit is now tainted with over two years of putting all grocery bills onto my credit cards. (sigh)

Anyway, I've been married now for barely over a year. My husband and I wrote an Instructable about our DIY wedding in hopes to win the honeymoon that we never had (due to Mike going to grad school 3 days after the wedding and our lack of money). We didn't win grand prize, but we did win a DeWalt power drill. I totally claimed that drill. My husband already has a power drill and he has broken at least 3 of my glue guns. I think it's only fair. ;)

You can check out our Instructable HERE. I think this means I am done with all wedding blog posts now. Yay!

Bridesmaids

2011-06-10T16:45:00.002-04:00

After watching the movie Bridesmaids with my leather craftin' friend, John Mac, I was reminded that I still have a few blog posts about my wedding that I need to write.

The movie Bridesmaids internally emphasized how slightly disappointed I am in my own wedding. Weddings are stressful, hard work unless you want to be a complete douchebag. While there is a lot of compromising going on within a wedding (not just the bride and groom, but the family and friends too), I can see why women become "bridezillas." If you don't become one, you might end up compromising the one thing that should never be compromised. My husband got his bomb-ass live music... and I ended up compromising the clothing details.

There was a lot of disagreement going on about colors and styles. All my bridesmaids lived far away; all my husband's groomsmen lived far away as well. There were also the "not so happy looks" received when explaining various bridal dress ideas. *sigh* Maybe it would've been better/easier if at least one bridesmaid lived near me to help take the edge off and help in decision making, but there weren't any. Maybe it would've helped if my mom lived near me too... just this once, ha ha. Other aspects of the DIY wedding were freaking awesome, but I still can't shake the green taffeta dresses and my slightly tacky, beaded dress. My prom dress is wayy cooler than my wedding dress!

In the end, when my bridesmaids finally did arrive in my vicinity, they were a gigantic help with preparing everything and dismantling everything. And they all looked great in kelly green. They weren't so great with keeping me chill, but maybe that's my own problem.

For bridesmaids gifts, I wanted to do special things for these ladies since I don't voice how much they mean to me at all...
I purchased some sweet shoe/slippers for when their feet hurt during fancy occasions. I made personal flasks for them with scrapbook paper, mod podge, and acrylic laquer (yes, we're drinkers). And I stitched a one-of-a-kind tote with personal applique for each of them.

Voila!

I'm Sew Goth!

2011-03-28T22:11:00.011-04:00

One of the reasons I got extremely into sewing was... well, I was goth. Before I knew what goth was, I was already listening to my brother's Cure and New Order albums. My sister got me into Nine Inch Nails and Ministry. MTV got me into Marilyn Manson.

When I was growing up, there was only one store in the area that sold "gothic" clothing and it was almost an hour away and extremely expensive. I shopped for black clothes in the thrift shops and would upcycle them on my mom's sewing machine.

When I moved to Long Island, they had Hot Topic in the mall and Religious Sex on St. Mark's Place, but I had already caught the sewing bug and made my very own junior prom dress.

The blue and lace dress was what I made for my junior prom. I started this dress with a pattern, but I tweaked it a bit. I made the dress shorter in the front a la the November Rain wedding dress (yes, I went there) and I made ruffly bell sleeves. There's a corset that you can't see too well in the first photo, so I included other photos of corsets I made. I used a borrowed pattern for the corsets and ended up being a huge fan of hammering eyelets into everything. I think I owned at least 10 pieces of clothing with eyelets in them.

I think this purple dress was the first dress I ever made completely by myself. I needed something to wear for my band recital when I was 14 years old. I used a pattern from the 1960's. There are lines of purple lace on the chiffon sleeves that I hand stitched. And I hand stitched a boa around the bottom edge and cuffs and wore a boa around my neck. I was big into boas after going to so many raves, ha ha.

Here I am at the age of 16 on my grandma's sewing machine. It hadn't been used in years but I got it working again although the stitches were never very straight. Man, I love making stuff!

The Cheaper Alternative to a Florist

2011-03-09T13:00:00.002-05:00

I guess I could have gotten flowers from Costco like I did for the bouquets, but I wanted something totally different for my wedding centerpieces. I went for the birdhouses sold at Michael's craft stores on sale, stocked up on acrylic craft paint and went crazy for painting for a few months. This also let me make the wedding colorful instead of having a color theme.

My husband then drilled tiny holes in each of the birdhouses, sprayed on clear acrylic paint, and made the table name holders out of scrap wire. My bridesmaid, Lydia, used her pretty handwriting and cardstock to make the table names. We chose musical terms for our table names since we have music in common.

Don't know what a pataflafla is? Check your drum rudiments!

John J. Macpherson Leather Wallets

2011-02-25T12:20:00.002-05:00

In an effort to remember to always bring business cards with me, I got these amazing custom wallets from John J. Macpherson. Now I can carry one in my purse and one in my backpack and look pretty snazzy whipping them out. Both wallets are hand-dyed and handmade. The red (for when I'm feeling professional) is antelope and the black (for when I feel goth) is cow but super soft. John J. Macpherson also makes awesome Halloween bags that can be purchased at his Etsy store or custom made!

Gathering Dishes

2011-01-27T18:38:00.003-05:00

One of the DIY things we did for the wedding was gather our own dishes and silverware. The dishes part was pretty easy- go to garage sales in the summer and haggle. The silverware part was hard to do; we had to supplement the stock with some utensils from Party City. The even harder part about this DIY thing was transporting the dishes. If we had the wedding in our own backyard, it would've been swell. However, having to rent a truck (which we did for musical equipment anyway) and drive it 3 hours away with the potential of breaking dishes was not fun. Also we had to get the dishes back home and eventually donate all of them. Luckily I had some bad-ass bridesmaids and friends to help with the dish washing and carrying! If I had to do it all again, I would probably have rented the dishes.... but then again, it was still more costly to rent than do it our way.

I got to make it colorful with the construction paper napkin bands. YAY!

Zelazowa Baby

2011-01-20T23:06:00.002-05:00

My amazing friends, part of the rock group Zelazowa and the website Indie On the Move, had their first baby! For this special occasion, I made some custom onesies inspired by the band.

The Zelazowa ticket onesie was made by scanning my own t-shirt from the band, shrinking it in photoshop and printing it out on iron-on paper. Super simple.

The custom applique onesie was inspired by their Elephants On a Mousehunt album cover.

If you're in the New York City area, you can check out Zelazowa at Mercury Lounge on Friday, February 11th. Buy tickets here.

Harvest Moon 2010

2010-10-21T15:18:00.000-04:00

After getting the ground hog situation taken care of, our crops turned out superb this year. Here's a photo of one of the last harvests we did...

Our eggplants were brilliant and our cucumbers did pretty well. The tomatoes came out great except about half the plants got blight. The jalapenos were nonstop. We got a lot of green peppers too except they seemed so small compared to super market kinds- about half the size! They were still tasty though. We got about 3 good cantaloupes in our crop; I think the growing season wasn't long enough in our area for cantaloupes. Green beans also did exceptionally well. Kale and collard greens kept coming up. We had so many eggplants that my parents took some home to California!

This year I also made refrigerator pickles with this recipe:

Ingredients

12 3 to 4 inch long pickling cucumbers
2 cups water
1 3/4 cups white vinegar
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh dill weed
1/2 cup white sugar
8 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt
1 tablespoon pickling spice
1 1/2 teaspoons dill seed
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
4 sprigs fresh dill weed

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the cucumbers, water, vinegar, chopped dill, sugar, garlic, salt, pickling spice, dill seed, and red pepper flakes. Stir, and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours, until the sugar and salt dissolve.
Remove the cucumbers to three 1 1/2 pint wide mouth jars, placing 4 cucumbers into each jar. Ladle in the liquid from the bowl to cover. Place a sprig of fresh dill into each jar, and seal with lids. Refrigerate for 10 days before eating. Use within 1 month.

YUM!

New Baby, New Onesies

2010-08-25T12:36:00.002-04:00

Another friend had a baby boy. Of course, I had to make a few onesies for the new addition to their family. I now have a "stockpile" of these designs that you can see here. Send me an email (my first and last name with no dot @gmail.com) if you'd like to purchase any of them. I was going to add them to my Etsy account, but the better photos that I took are too large for Etsy.... and now I'm a bit too swamped with wedding preparations. Here I quote Kermit the Frog, "Sheesh."

Seating Chart Madness

2010-08-22T12:23:00.002-04:00

The place that we're renting for our wedding requests that we send them a sketch of where we want the tables to be set up. They gave us a design of the venue with its measurements but didn't give a scale. Luckily, I never failed math class and figured out the scale on my own. Also lucky that my betrothed had a nifty circle maker. My father also had one of these circle rulers when I was a kid- it's common for those who study engineering and you can find it in a decent art supply store.

Doing a seating chart for a big party is super hard to accomplish. Unless everybody knows each other, it's hard trying to think of where to place the odd numbers of people and couples. We mixed some of the "younger generation" of people in hopes that they will all get along. I guess we'll find out how we did with this mix by the end of the wedding reception.

Cold Spring River Festival

2010-08-01T10:43:00.001-04:00

Mike and I vended at the Cold Spring River Festival this year. It was our first real craft show (the other one was a flea market). It wasn't a total bust, but I am still not into sitting at a table for 8 hours and interacting with people thing.

People seemed to want children's shirts more than onesies or adult shirts. I gotta tell ya, I started making this stuff for my older brother and moved on to making things for friends and their babies. Maybe when my friends' babies are 5 yrs old, then I will end up making more children's clothing.

The catnip toys I made sold pretty well. Cat people love buying toys for their cats, especially if they're at a stupid low price ($2 a toy). Maybe if I get a dog, I will make dog toys.

Also, what jerkface charges money for entrance to a craft fair!? The crafters already have to shell out money for a spot- I just don't see the point.

*grumbley poooo*

I guess I will try other craft fairs eventually, but I am guessing that my feelings on them won't change.

Catnip

2010-07-23T12:27:00.000-04:00

I grow catnip and thought I should show some photos. This year I had wanted to grow a lot of catnip compared to last year, but when everything's nice and dry, it still isn't that much. It's nice to know where my cats' "bad habit" is coming from though ;)

catnip in the flower pot. i had just cut some out.

rinsed catnip and put onto wax paper.

leaves cut off of stems.

the finished product. now my cats will love me!!

Ohm Sweet Ohm

2010-07-19T10:31:00.000-04:00

Mike made this plaque when we first moved to the sticks. It was one of those plaques from Hallmark that said something completely not our style. Not to mention, it was given to Mike before I came into the picture, so I thought it was kind of strange. When I wanted to get rid of the original plaque, Mike put up a fight about waste and he promised to turn it into something cool. So "Ohm Sweet Ohm" was born. Here's his post about it: www.pushtheotherbutton.com. He tried to sell the plaque at the craft fair, but it didn't sell. I am glad it didn't sell because now we can keep it for a while.

Pesto

2010-07-05T22:15:00.000-04:00

Pesto was the first thing I made with my snazzy new blender/ food processor that I got as a bridal shower gift. I used fresh basil from my badass herb garden, garlic cloves, parmesan cheese, sunflower seeds and olive oil. It turned out great.

I have yet to make something out of my new, apple green KitchenAid Mixer. Maybe I'll make some bread? The problem with good food and fresh ingredients is that it's super time consuming. Also, I haven't had a lot of practice in the cooking/ baking department as a lot of moms do. I'm under the "throw it all together with some garlic and onions" department. Then there's the hassle of dishes. I hate washing dishes!!

Groundhog Day

2010-07-04T12:10:00.006-04:00

Something had been eating the peppers, beans, and leafy greens. I thought it was a bunch of rabbits...

Then one day I noticed the cats looking outside the window facing the garden. I spied a woodchuck lounging on the rock pile next to the garden. D'oh!!

I watched as this woodchuck ran down the rock pile and through our electric fence!! He started eating the leafy greens and I tried to make loud noises through the window to frighten him, but that didn't work. I ran outside and he finally ran out of the garden and through our electric fence. hmph!

The next day Mike went to the hardware store, bought some chicken wire and put it around the garden. It folded into the garden about 6 inches. We hope that if the woodchuck is smart enough to dig, then he would hit the chicken wire and electric fence on his way up and run away.

So far, we have had no more garden intruders.... well, except for the beetles and slugs that are eating the leaves... booooo. At least the snow peas are thriving.

Wedding Invitations

2010-06-16T13:27:00.003-04:00

I almost went for the regular type of wedding invitations that would say something like, "The parents of Melody Sia invite you to... yada yada yada" But as I was trying to figure out the proper wording, I realized I was completely not into the traditional style. I definitely knew I didn't want the hobo/hippy wedding that my best friend had, but going the normal route wasn't ideal for me either. Something in between?

Here's what I came up with... Inspired by the Hatch Show Prints that I saw in Nashville and our love for rock shows. Made in Photoshop and printed onto 65lb cover paper. I had to download a font called Nashville that was great to use, but didn't have numbers.On the left is the invite, on the right is the hotel information and detachable RSVP card. I printed out each invitation individually so I could type in each guest's names.

The other side of the paper was the front of the invitation and the address side of the RSVP card. I drew the hilarious barn scene with animals playing instruments (and our three cats), cleaned it up in Photoshop and colored it grey. I liked the way I did the RSVP cards 'cause I could just stick a postcard stamp on the back. Saved paper and postage.

I ran out of postcard stamps and had to resort to using several stamps.

Then I folded the paper in half to make it an actual card. I used a bone folder and ruler to make a clean looking fold. The bone folders make things look a lot neater, but it is a time consuming process.

The finished invitations got mailed in these vibrant "half fold" envelopes with The Simpsons stamps on them :)

While I absolutely love the way my invitations look, I would have to say they were extremely time consuming. I may have been better off getting everything printed for me. Printer ink is expensive and my computer to printer connection seemed awfully slow. Hard to tell what the more cost+time effective option was.

Jay Mankind and the Jay Mankind Pop-estra

2010-06-11T18:00:00.004-04:00

Mike plays with Jay Mankind at Spike Hill in Brooklyn.

Check out Jay Mankind if you're into upbeat folksy kinda music.

Spike Hill is a decent small venue without being dirty and embarrassing to go to. I mean look, it has an actual stage! A lot of "cool" small venues have a tendency to build a dinky 6 inch high stage in the corner. Booo! The sound guy had some problems with feedback, but was still pretty decent. I wouldn't call this place a "premiere music venue" just yet, but it has potential and it feels clean. Man, I am so done with dives!

Hot Fuzz Butts/ MacGruber

2010-06-11T13:05:00.003-04:00

It's funny when my cats get hot. They all end up sleeping in weird places and are too hot to fuss with each other. I found all three cats hanging out in the dining room/craft room on a 90 degree day. The lights were out in this room and they had a breeze in three directions.

On this super hot day, Mike and I decided to go to the movie theatre to sit in some air conditioning. We chose to watch MacGruber over the latest Shrek movie. I absolutely do not recommend MacGruber even if it's free and on tv. They tried to make it a serious action movie with the sillyness of the MacGruber character and it failed miserably. There were a couple of funny moments, but not enough to sustain an entire movie. I hope that on the next hot day we have a better movie choice.

My Bridal Shower

2010-06-11T06:00:00.010-04:00

My soon to be mother in law threw me a bridal shower. I had never been to a bridal shower as I tend to avoid events like that, but it was still pretty neat. She rented a tent and tables and chairs for her backyard in the middle of Long Island.

On each table were cute little centerpieces bought from Michael's...

and personalized M&Ms candy.

For lunch we mainly had delicious Italian food from a local restaurant, but my mother in law makes this super awesome salad (the front right) with bok choy, scallions, and uncooked ramen. I forget which recipe she uses, but here is one I found online: Bok Choy Salad. Yes, you can eat ramen uncooked. When I was a kid I used to eat it uncooked all the time.. sorta like eating potato chips. Just don't try to eat rice noodles uncooked, yuck!

Overall, it was pretty cool to have this kind of party thrown for me. I have always been a sort of skeptic about these things, "What do you mean people buy me expensive gifts that I don't seriously need and I can buy on my own eventually?!" Well, a friend of mine has said it's sort of a "paying it forward" type of tradition. I may not be so into bridal showers now since I am not quite married yet and can barely afford anything, but one day when other friends get married or my friends' children get married, I will have the opportunity to pay it forward. That sounds terrific actually. I am already showering my best friend's baby with gifts and I have not met her yet.

Oh, and bridal showers always have this hat thing made out of the bows and ribbons from all your gifts. Other than the food, this was probably my favorite part... getting to be goofy without having to say anything. My soon to be sister in law made the hat... she's a math teacher! Who said math couldn't be crafty?!

My Parents Visit

2010-06-10T23:09:00.005-04:00

My parents came to visit in May. It was the first time they had seen the country cottage.

Every time my mom comes over, she has to clean my kitchen. I spent about a week cleaning my kitchen before my parents showed up, but somehow it's not as clean as my mom likes kitchens. I ain't complaining or anything, I am just always amazed at how much cleaner my mom makes things and how she can clean a kitchen super fast. I guess it takes years of practice.

My dad likes cats as much as I do. Here's a pic he took of my three cats in the kitchen. Blackie the cat spent a lot of time hanging out on my dad's lap.

And it wouldn't feel like a proper visit if I didn't catch my dad napping *everywhere*

Here he is napping on my couch while my mom is in the kitchen.

Here he is napping in the hotel room... in a chair... when there are two perfectly good beds beside him. We only stayed in a hotel room when we had to trek to Long Island for my bridal shower. My parents totally slept in my house on their visit. That's just the type of family we are.

And here are both my parents napping in the back seat of their rental car. I don't know why my mom is sleeping in the middle like that, but that's just how they ended up.

House Finch

2010-06-10T19:08:00.028-04:00

There was a little bird that built its nest on our porch. The corner faces our living room window. At first, when we would look at her, she would run away, but then she got pretty used to seeing us through the window. Every time we looked at her, she was always facing our window. We think she was a house finch. Here was her beautiful little nest.

One day we saw the little bird being nuzzled by a male bird. The male bird has a bright red chest to attract the female bird.
Then we noticed that the little bird looked a little taller! She had babies! Boy were they adorable! We wouldn't see the bird most of the day except when we heard the little babies chirping as she fed them.

And they just kept growing...

And growing...

And they were pooping everywhere!! eeeww.
Then one day, they were gone.
For some strange reason, about two days after the birds left, there were a bunch of brown feathers in the nest. huh. We removed the nest after that. It was pretty effing gross.

Save the Date

2010-06-10T12:10:00.000-04:00

I am super behind on posting about things considering all the goings on that's been goings onsss. :P

It's crunch time on my wedding planning. We're a bunch o' procrastinators here. Lots of things should have been finalized three months ago, but we just don't think that way. Also, I am terrible at communication and have delegated all the phone calling to my betrothed... even though he was working almost 60 hours a week. Now he has quit his pizza delivery job (he's going to grad school in the fall, remember?) and he's on top of all the phone calling.... mostly. Apparently when you're doing a DIY sorta wedding, everybody else doesn't think of wedding deadlines either. For a typical party, contracts generally get signed a month before the party... but wedding websites always suggest things to be finalized six months in advance. Sheeesh. Example: we called to rent a bus for twelve hours. The people on the phone said, "Okay!" and we said, "Uh, do we give you our credit card number or get a confirmation number or something?" and they said, "Oh, no, just call back a month before."

Anyway, here's my first run at making our Save the Date card.. it did not get approved by Mike. I still think it's hilarious.

And the Save the Date that did get approved:

I just cut out our heads from a pic in Photoshop and drew the bodies in Photoshop too, added the text and voila! I had extra multicolored card stock lying around and printed onto that. Sent it as a postcard. Simple and cheap. weeee.

It's that time of year again. (springtime + peat pellets + gardening)

2010-04-18T19:13:00.000-04:00

Ah, springtime.
The turkeys are making frequent visits to our yard and the indoor seed starting has begun. Mmmm sustainability. I'm going to miss all this nature stuff.

This year we're not going away for two weeks and leaving our crops to get eaten by critters (our electric fence was broken when we returned home last year). Hopefully we will have a much better garden this year. Last year was still great. We had lots of collard greens, kale, and cucumbers. Our tomatoes got the blight, but we managed to get a couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes. We also got a couple of peppers, jalapenos, and one eggplant. ha. I don't think it was too bad for my first garden.

On this year's list are beans, peas, cauliflower, radishes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, brussel sprouts, spinach, swiss chard, bunch o' herbs, and lots of catnip.

I started my seeds this year using the Jiffy Seed Starting Kit. It was much easier and faster than using newspaper pots like I did last year. However, my peat pellets got white, fuzzy mold on them. I guess it was too humid in the "greenhouse." I recommend buying just the peat pellets (Walmart had the cheapest prices in my area) and starting them indoors without a cover. Plastic take-out containers work great to carry your pellets. But if you live in a cooler, dry area, you may want to try the greenhouse thing... or maybe you should poke holes in the container to get a little air in. Honestly, you really have to keep an eye on those suckers.

If you unfortunately get the white, fuzzy mold on your pellets, mixing 1 tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide with about two cups of water in a spray bottle should do the trick. Just spray your pellets with the mixture whenever you need to water them. A few of my pellets did not survive the mold (or maybe it was too much peroxide), but most of them are growing strong.

Subway Series

2010-03-30T22:26:00.002-04:00

I often like to pretend like cats can talk. For some reason, I like to think that cats talk with the letter "M" in front of their words.

Here's a drawing I did a couple of years ago. I was living off the Astoria, Ditmars Boulevard stop- the last stop on the N line. Some of the N trains are new with robots talking. I'd like to think an orange cat is driving the train and reading a script. Apparently this train doesn't seem to have any depth though.

Imported Posts

2010-03-28T12:54:00.000-04:00

I decided to import my old blog. I built this "new" blog with the idea that I would only blog about crafty things and rural things, but even that is hard to do when I still do things in the city and when I'm now moving back to city life.

These old blog posts are from 2006-2008, back when I used to go out all the time to see music shows and such. I think I go through phases of being a hermit. I can't seem to find a happy medium. I am either out all the time or I avoid everyone like the plague. If you read the old posts, you will find that I was out drinking most of the time... obviously I am combating my anxiety issues with alcohol. I was also seriously into music... but somewhere along the lines, I just got tired of it all. The last stint I did of going out all the time was when all I did was go dancing... then I guess I got tired with that and stayed inside for a couple of years... only to reemerge as a... band aid.

Now I've had a couple of years in the country to perfect crafting... crafting is something I've always loved doing, but the idea of turning it into a bonafide business has always been unreal to me. I can't seem to get off this block. Maybe the country has turned me into a lazy crafter 'cause I don't see very innovative crafts? Maybe if I lived in the city again, I will feel the competition and want to do more with my talents? I have no idea what moving will bring me.

I think the idea of a career has never been something I've been a fan of. A career sounds like work. A career sounds like- if you suck at it, then you just plain suck. If I suck at a hobby, it's no sweat, it's just a hobby. I feel like I'm good in a lot of things, but not the best in just one thing. What is a person supposed to do with that?

Mystery Baby

2010-03-26T15:40:00.000-04:00

My best friend is now having a baby, yay! Of course I had to make the new baby some custom threads!

My friend doesn't want to know the sex of the baby until it's born, so I've made some gender neutral clothing for it... neutral-ish at least. Well, it's not like the baby will have any say in what it's wearing :D

First up is a strange piece of clothing. Not only is it strange with bats on it, but it's strange in practicality. I've never had a baby, nor have I actually clothed one, so this piece of clothing is slightly questionable. I guess it's supposed to be easier to change the diapers because you only have to undo two ties to the outfit. But why even bother with the elastic at the bottom? Is it for looks or breath-ability?
Anyway, I used a pattern for this, but I guess it's been discontinued online. Here's a pattern that's similar.

Second up is a pair of short overalls. I think they are ridiculously adorable. Blue corduroy, fruit, and orange buttons. I've used this pattern before. You can purchase the pattern here.

And of course, I had to make a slew of custom appliquéd onesies for the little one... a cowboy duck, t-square hammer and pie, year of the tabby, and angry corn... hey, you would be angry too if the aliens kept landing in your fields!

Violet Cupcakes for the Newest Bobcat

2010-03-25T18:28:00.002-04:00

My betrothed, Mike, got accepted into my alma mater, NYU. He'll be going for Tisch ITP. I think it's the perfect program for him. So I baked him some vegan violet cupcakes (I didn't have eggs and I only drink soy milk).

This is a cardboard robot that Mike made for fun. He used cardboard pieces that pop out from boxes at his work. He also made this snazzy CD mosaic table. You can find out more about Mike's ideas via his blog: Push the Other Button. Or check out TapeScape.

Looks like we're moving back to the city for at least two years. Not sure what happens after those two years, but I hope I can get a garden again. We're not moving til the end of summer, so I still have a second chance at gardening, yay!

Here's the recipe I used for the cupcakes:
1 TBspn apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 c. soy milk (measure out the vinegar into a measuring cup and then add the milk to make 1 1/2c.)
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar (I like doing half white and half brown so it's not teeth hurtingly sweet)
2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn baking soda
1/2 tspn salt
1/2 c. canola oil
1 1/4 tspn vanilla extract

Bake at 350º for 15-20 minutes.
I like this recipe 'cause the ingredients aren't set in stone. You can substitute any other kind of milk you want- almond, rice, etc., you can sub the oil as well- vegetable, liquefied coconut, etc., and you can use lemon juice instead of apple cider vinegar.

Yep, that's me (the drummer on the right) on graduation day.

The Twig and Molokie French Book

2010-03-10T11:54:00.000-05:00

Like the teen girls of today, my best friend and I were also obsessed with a vampire novel. We found two characters in this book completely amusing. Somehow we decided we were these characters... even though we weren't a couple of undead men running around in a van in New Orleans. Maybe we could've been the adolescent female versions of these vampires? Who knows.

In high school, we used these two characters as an outlet for lots of silliness and boredom. I made a book for French class with Twig and Molokie. This is probably the least weird of all the Twig and Molokie drawings. Click on the photo to see the whole book.

frenchbook

Snow Storm Outage

2010-03-06T09:30:00.001-05:00

During this latest snow storm, we were out of power for almost 4 days. It was incredibly annoying because our well water uses an electric pump, our stove is electric, and our oil burner doesn't turn on without electricity. uhg!

Things to remember in the event of an impending storm:
1. Fill your bathtub with water for flushing and stock up on drinking water- duh.
2. Have flashlights and batteries, candles and matches, and a battery powered radio on hand.
3. In the event that you're out of power for days, check with your local fire department or community center for dry ice, water, and warm meals.
4. Hot Hands is great to have when it's stupid cold and your heat doesn't work. You can buy them in the camping section of your local store. It works with iron oxidation.

The only outages I've experienced that have lasted longer than two days have been while I lived in the NYC area during the summer. In the city, the water always works and all the stoves are gas. I wish I had known about the fire department/community stuff that goes on during an outage. In the city, the electric company usually reimburses you for food lost during a long outage- so be sure to write a list of the foods and prices before you toss them and take a photo if you can. In the country (and suburbs?), people get dry ice. Without knowing about the dry ice, we put our refrigerated foods in a large plastic container and filled it with snow and left it in the kitchen. Our frozen foods got put in another large plastic container (with lid) and buried in the snow outside.

The first photo was taken with 15 second exposure. My fiance and I played Scrabble by candlelight while munching on pizza we made earlier in the day. We were watching the news about the snow and the news guy said, "Lots of trees will be coming down tonight, expect outages." We mocked the news guy and 2 minutes later we lost power. Boooo to us. The second photo is the morning after the initial storm. You can see the broken tree limbs. It snowed for another day.

Luckily, my fiance had made a very small wood burning stove to warm the basement up while he tinkers. We made coffee and cooked eggs in the living room the morning after the outage. I guess we could've used the wood burning stove in the kitchen, but we were hoping to warm the living room a little. The grate above the stove was taken from our toaster oven. It couldn't take the heat and warped a bit.

This is the third morning after the outage. I've never seen all three cats hanging out this close together. I stuck one HotHands under each of their butts :D

watch where you dip that paint brush

2010-03-03T22:40:00.006-05:00

I'm getting married in September. My fiance and I are the crafty, thrifty sorta folks (if you haven't already noticed) and want as much of a DIY kind of wedding as we can handle.

For centerpieces, I bought those $4 wooden birdhouses at Michaels (I waited til they were on sale). I'm painting them all sorts of colors because I don't want to have a particular color palette. I was going to put moss or leafy vines around the houses, but I think I'm going to figure out a way to make our (undecided) favors as scenery.

As you can see in this photo, my pink lemonade is the same color as the paint I am using. I felt totally weird drinking the lemonade.

We found a large, old chalkboard on the side of the road and have used it for various purposes- making the TapeScape and drying handmade paper. Now it has a home on the wall as our wedding to-do list. It's easier having the list on the wall for both of us to see instead of tucked away in a folder... or rather, it's easier for my fiance to be involved if he can see the list more readily. :P

Buns on Parade- super grip on bunny slippers

2010-02-13T12:32:00.009-05:00

I really love Debbie Stoller's The Happy Hooker book. In fact, I really love crocheting! Sometimes it's difficult to count the stitches on crochet, but I love how things whip up faster and with an added texture in crochet. I guess there's all sorts of cool things you can do with knitting as well, but I find knitting to be a slightly more advanced art than crochet.

I decided to make the Bunny Slippers in The Happy Hooker book for several friends of mine. If you ever want a pair of super nice bunny slippers, you should try out this pattern. Beware though- one slipper is 5 pieces!

The pattern is pretty easy to follow and also easy to adjust for feet sizes (just add stitches to the starting chain for longer feet, and/or add extra rounds for wider feet). My main beef with the slippers is that I had to sew 5 pieces together (bottom sole, upper sole, toe part, two ears) for each slipper, but I guess I shouldn't have tried to make 4 pairs of slippers in a row!

When all the slippers were done, all the button eyes were sewn on, and all the noses were satin stitched on, I was ready to apply some sort of traction to the bottoms. I read a few different options online for this- mold builder, puffy paint (dimensional paint), and rubber that you use for dipping garden tool handles. The puff paint was already in my stash, but when I tried it out it didn't feel like it would be very durable on the bottom of slippers. So I went out and bought the expensive mold builder (I forget the exact price, but it was over $10 and under $20- maybe it wasn't that expensive a price to pay so your friends don't slip and break bones I guess).

The gold puff paint in squiggle lines looks great but felt like you could still slip if you were a
super clumsy person (my friends are). The mold builder looks kinda like snot, but it was just like adding a rubbery layer to the bottom of your slippers. Here in the northeast, most of the houses/apartments have wood floors. It was very important to me to give slippers with traction.

To prep your bunny slippers, I recommend hanging them on a line. I used some scrap yarn and clothes pins. Use a foam brush to apply a layer of mold builder on the bottoms of your slippers (mold builder is white but it turns translucent tan when dry). Wait for the layer to dry (mine took about 5 hours for each layer) and apply another layer... and then another. At least, that's what I did. And under no circumstances should you wash your brush in the sink right after using the mold builder. I know the directions tell you to wash it in cold water and such, but it's best to let the brush dry, then remove the latex and then wash the brush. I think I made the sink drain a little slower because of this mistake :P

hippity hoppity...

Late Christmas Gifts

2010-01-23T20:06:00.005-05:00

Last Christmas I didn't spend much time on my parents' gifts. In fact, I bought them some kind of kite-like lawn ornament (they love their garden). This year I figured I had enough time on my hands to make them some things, but I put a little too much on my plate for handmade goods. They got their gifts late, but at least they liked them.. or so they say :P

My parents live in sunny California, but they still get chills. The green shawl was made from the Splendid Triangle Shawl from Lion Brand. It was super easy and I sped through it. Bulky weight yarn and using large needles is freaking awesome! The red, purple, brown scarf is called Diva Scarf, also from Lion Brand. It was also pretty easy, but it took forever to make. I used larger needles so that it could be shawl-like and not too warm for my mom to wear.

My dad got three hats. Both the beanie and the fedora are from the Happy Hooker book. The fedora hat was actually a cowboy hat pattern but I added the blue stripe and didn't make the brim as large or with the wire, like the pattern suggested. My mom told me my dad sleeps with a hat on 'cause his head gets cold (he's like 70 years old), so I thought I would make him his very own sleeping cap. Funny, huh?

If you know my brother, you must know that he's got some weird infatuation with unicorns. I'm not talking the kitschy unicorn stuff that's been out the past five years. He's been into unicorns for at least 10 years. Maybe more. Anyway, my sister had given me the idea to make hoodies with extra pockets on the inside so you can take all your stuff with you that way. I decided to try this idea out a bit on my brother. I bought a regular hoodie, three yards of flannel for warmth, and this amazing horses fabric online. I painted the gold horns on all of the horses on 3 yards of this fabric. I used the hoodie as a pattern for the fabric, stitched the pieces together, and made the pockets before sewing the lining into the hoodie. ALAKAZAM! I only wish I used a hoodie that was one size larger. Apparently it's a snug fit since I used flannel for warmth.

Rapidweaver

2010-01-20T15:10:00.003-05:00

I purchased Rapidweaver with the hopes of creating a better website. Currently I'm using the Yahoo templates and Blogger for blogs. The problem I am encountering with Rapidweaver is that I have to purchase Templates and extras for my website. I was kinda hoping I could download them for free, but I haven't been able to find much that I like. I should just learn how to program.

So I have decided that all those blogs I was putting into Rapidweaver should go into Blogger 'cause I like how you can click on the photos to see more detail in Blogger. And because my website on Rapidweaver is not quite there yet. The Yahoo one suits me fine for now, but I really want to figure out more of Rapidweaver before I publish from there.

I joined Etsy but I hate it. They charge you to list your item and there is a time limit on your item. I'd rather be charged twice as much or more, after my item is sold, and as long as my item can stay 'til it sells. hmph.

In other news, still unemployed, still carrying the fire.
I'm working on the wedding planning thing for September. My head. is. going. to. explode.

Girls Like Dance

2009-12-14T19:26:00.000-05:00

Christmas time is here again. I added two more girls to my queue of family gifts. My fiance has two young cousins living in California that we visited this summer. I just hope when the kids get older that I don’t end up being the weird relative with the lame gifts.

The green ladybug dress was made for almost 2yr old Izzie. I try to keep away from the pink unless I know it’s their favorite color.

This tutu was made for 4yr old Eva. Her favorite color is definitely pink, but I added dark green and gold as well. Sometimes I worry that other family members will buy tu-tus for the girls, so I try to pick out unusual color schemes.

My soon to be niece loves going to dance class. When I was in dance, I used to be a little sad that my mom never bought me tutus or leg warmers like some of the other girls. I was also embarrassed that I had to use a regular backpack instead of one of those pink ballet bags (yeah, I was a little bratty). This year, I made sure my niece got the luxuries I never got for ballet. I made most of everything red because everybody else always has pink!! I threw in some quick crocheted pink and purple leg warmers though, just to match the pink leotard she already has. Wifi the cat doesn’t look very approving...

Because Bears Get Cold Too

2009-11-15T19:23:00.000-05:00

Made for the three baby bears that were all born within three months of each other.

Little Girls Get the Blues

2009-11-14T19:18:00.001-05:00

I’m at the age where all my friends are starting to have babies.
I made these two outfits after discussing how all baby girl clothing tends to be pink.
If you can’t see it very clearly (my camera broke and these were taken from a webcam), the yellow outfit has red ladybugs on it and the blue outfit has white hearts on it. The yellow fabric seems to be pretty common at the chain fabric stores. The blue fabric I found in a family owned shop in Astoria.
I like adding rick rack or piping to clothing- it’s like kicking it up a notch.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T19:15:00.001-04:00

Midi the cat wishes you a Happy Halloween.

Bring on Autumn

2009-10-23T15:30:00.003-04:00

Around this time of year in the country, I have experienced two different things that didn’t happen last year.
First, I was woken up by a whole bunch of crows hanging out in the yard. I guess they were migrating. The second was the infestation of ladybugs to our cottage. Apparently this is a common thing, but I was quite surprised to witness this as it did not happen the previous year. For all things ladybugs, click here.

summer birthdays

2009-09-01T11:52:00.005-04:00

This year I made my soon to be niece and nephew their birthday presents.

I think the "don't make your new boyfriend a sweater" rule also applies to boys over the age of 2. While the gift was not appreciated much on the boy's end, I am hoping it will become his favorite around halloween time. At least it was fun to make and I really like the way it turned out. It's simple to do. Just buy yourself a child size jump suit (got it from an army surplus store), iron/sew on a bunch of patches you've collected, and voila! His very own BMX bike/car racing/ air pilot/ astronaut suit! Luckily my boyfriend and I had a stash of patches since we were teens and we were able to get some neat ones on our recent road trip.

The girl absolutely loves her dress. She turned 4, what girl wouldn't love her own princess dress? I used an easy Halloween pattern for her. made it a bit big 'cause she'll probably grow fast, hee hee.

Lopsided cat tree.

2009-07-03T01:48:00.009-04:00

While visiting my parents on the west coast, my boyfriend and I decided to build them a cat tree. This was our first head to toe cat tree and we basically made it in a day... with no level. We had time constraints, otherwise I think we would've done a much better and bigger job. The tree parts and wood were already on my parents' property, the carpet and small tubing was found in a dumpster (behind a carpet place, but i think it was from an apartment), everything else was bought at home depot or walmart.
Building the cat tree was hard work, but I feel like I could get into it more with better tools. It's lopsided, has carpet thread dangling from it, and is slightly unfinished, but at least Fermat the cat approves.

Dunkin the three-legged dog.

2009-05-16T21:09:00.002-04:00

A month or two ago my boyfriend's boss's dog got his leg broken. The bigger dog, Dewey, landed on the little dog, Dunkin. Dunkin was only 6 months old at the time. They could have put his leg in a cast and given him physical therapy, but the vet was unsure if Dunkin would even be able to walk normally after that. So they amputated his leg. Then they shaved the rest of his fur off so that he wouldn't have just one bald spot. I made Dunkin a special sweater just for him. I found the pattern for free at My Savanna Cottage (Basket of Daisies dog sweater) and altered it to have one leg hole and added the green trim. There are a few free dog patterns on the site. You can also purchase cute dog patterns from their etsy site. This was my first dog sweater and I think My Savanna Cottage does an excellent job.

The finished urn and beckets.

2009-05-16T21:05:00.004-04:00

We made beckets.

2009-05-08T12:49:00.006-04:00

My boyfriend and I made beckets (rope handles) for a sea chest urn. He made the inner rope with cotton twine and jute, and he did the leather work. I made the decorative stitches around the rope with a top braid and double crochet.

The economy is beginning to affect me...

2009-03-18T16:45:00.003-04:00

My 9 to 5 job is looking to cut costs by taking away my much loved health insurance at the end of the month. I rarely go to the doctor outside of my yearly check-ups, but I desperately need prescription drug coverage. I've got asthma and I need to be medicated daily.

I think it's about time I start selling my crafts instead of giving them away. I've searched the Penny Saver and it's a good thing the weather is getting nicer... there are flea markets every weekend. Now I need to build a decent supply of crafts to sell.

In better news... this year I'm going to start my own garden for the first time ever. I've already planted a few seeds in some seed starting mix and they are sprouting nicely. The only hassle is trying to keep the cats away. grrr. Hopefully my garden will cut grocery costs a great deal.

Art inspired art.

2009-03-16T13:09:00.005-04:00

My boyfriend and his friend are entering a contest involving reconstituted things. Their use of analog tape has inspired me to make a new shirt for a technological baby...

Chistmas Gifts

2009-01-09T11:37:00.004-05:00

Now that the holidays are over I can post the gifts I made for people.

These were made for my boyfriend's family. I used Lion Brand Homespun yarn. I like the feel and all the color choices that Homespun gives. Also, it's made of acrylic so it's easy to wash and dry.

The red and blue scarf are done in garter stitch with crocheted edges. The other patterns can be found online. Lion Brand also has a few decent patterns for their Homespun yarn.

Last year I made stockings for myself, boyfriend, and two cats. I enjoyed the way they turned out so I made some for my family as well. Fermat and Sui Sui are cats. May-Lee is my sister; she lives with her boyfriend Aaron, but they were visiting my parents this year. I made the stockings out of felt, rick rack, and fabric glue.

I knit my brother an awesome tube scarf. It took much longer than I expected it would, but it looks great and feels very soft. I used Knit Picks Crayon yarn. It's 100% pima cotton. He can wash it and dry it if he needs to.

Hilarity. I used the puff paint on a sweatshirt for my brother. Only two people in the world can give my brother a "#1 Brother" shirt, so I thought it was about time he got one. (FYI- my brother is 32, I am 27.) He said he liked it and I believe him. My brother is all about the crafty things and original clothing that will make him stand out.

My sister got this awesome hoodie with her boyfriend's band name on the back. drumcorps. I almost didn't want to give this away because I thought it was so cool. I may have to make one for myself now. :D

I also knit two hats for my sister's boyfriend, but I forgot to take pictures of those! Grr! They are not your regular knit hats. The boyfriend has dreadlocks down to his butt and can't fit them into a regular hat. My solution: I knit one mushroom shaped hat for when he likes to twist his hair onto the top of his head and I knit one hat that is as long as shoulder length hair so he can fold his hair into it. Voila!

i moved north...

2008-12-20T21:53:00.005-05:00

The crafting is not slacking, but the blogging is.
I moved north in October... Out of the city and into the woods. I have much more space and time to craft, but certainly not enough!

Before I moved, I spent my whole summer making my best friend's bridal dress and two bride's maids dresses. She had a lovely gypsy wedding in the south of France on an awesome farm. I used various patterns to put these dresses together. Most of the patterns were from Simplicity Halloween costumes. The veil was done totally on my own. It's a tie headband with two pieces of fabric gathered and sewn under the headband. I cut the veil fabrics into square pieces and then cut off a corner and gathered that part. Pretty simple. The beading really made the dress look cool and it gave the bride weight on her skirt to twirl it out properly as she danced.

It's hard for me to adjust to country life. I love it here, but it gets very quiet once the sun goes down. I generally get unproductive and want to nest when it's dark out. Thank goodness for yarn. I do wake up before 9am on weekends and get cracking on domestic life and crafting though. I don't have kids, so life seems pretty easy for now. I just need to learn to schedule my time out better. As much as I love crafting, I am totally slacking on playing music, socializing, and reading books.
One thing I like and hate about living out of the city is shopping. I like that I don't have to worry about how many things I buy because I can put it in the car instead of walking 10 blocks to a subway and then another 5 blocks home. I also like that the stores have practically everything I need for crafting- no more hitting the three different fabric shops in my neighborhood to find the right color and sized zipper. However, now I shop at corporate America - Walmart, Michael's, the A&P. I also have to plan to shop... no more hitting the corner stores at 3am for a little snack. Booooo.

Anyway, It's been crunch time in my neck of the woods. I've been very busy trying to make gifts for my family. I know, it's the weekend before Christmas and maybe I should have started making gifts in the summer like I tell myself every December, but that never happens. I am just about done and I will mail out everything Monday morning via Priority USPS. They will at least get the package that weekend. I am thankful my family has low expectations when it comes to everybody's schedule - both my brother and sister are artists that travel a ton and have sporadic schedules. I would be with my family this year if somebody told me ahead of time that everybody else was showing up too, but that's a typical thing in my family.

Without further ado, and without giving them away, some projects that I have been up to...

Yes, somebody's going to be glamming it up this season. My first attempt at gemstones. I rather like them actually... don't think I would ever wear it though. I like the gratification of seeing the art finished and sparkling, but it took a lot longer than I thought it would.

I like how I made the tree. The pizza is just hilarious and I hope the person appreciates it instead of thinking it's too silly.

Yep, I broke out the puffy paint. I am using a brush with it though, so maybe it won't puff out as much as usual. It's been about two hours into the drying time...

Some photos, finally.

2008-06-25T10:45:00.004-04:00

Here is the robot vest I made my boyfriend with the robot buttons I bought from Fiber Notion. I'm not too proud of the appliqué robot I made, but the boyfriend loves it... especially the buttons!

I'm also not proud of my picture taking skills, but these were taken in a hurry. Maybe one day I will get the boyfriend to pose with all his vests.

I finished a really cool striped vest, but have yet to take a picture of it on a body...

Slacker makes vests.

2008-06-19T10:40:00.004-04:00

No, I haven't really been slacking on my crafting. I just lack the pictures to show everybody what I've been doing. I am still on a vest kick for my boyfriend. I enjoy seeing how much faster I can make them each time. I did away with making the pockets for his vests because they consume a bit of time, but I hope that doesn't make his vests look cheaper. Maybe I will put patch pockets on them so he can place guitar picks in them. He's been doing more magic shows for kids and wears the vests to those. I am proud of him and I like making him look a little snazzy.

My best friend is getting married in September. I have agreed to make her Gypsy wedding dress and a couple of bridesmaid dresses. I bought almost $300 worth of batiks online (the owner was very helpful, shipped fast, and packed the fabric well). They are gorgeous! When they finally arrived, I spent a whole weekend washing them (have to go a few blocks to the laundromat, booo), ironing them (that took many hours), and cutting out the skirt pieces. Needless to say, I am burnt out on the fabric now. They're beautiful and super easy to work with, but I am just tired of looking at it!

I have set a date for finishing the Gypsy/ Batik dresses- End of July. I am confident I will get the urge to start sewing them again. I'm using simple patterns, so it shouldn't take me long to finish once I get started again.

The weather has been wonderful lately... This means I will be doing more sewing. It's funny- when it's terrible outside, all I want to do is stay inside and lounge on the couch and watch TV. When it's beautiful outside, all I want to do is stay inside and craft all day long. Ha ha, the sun has the best lighting!

Fiber Notion

2008-04-18T12:18:00.004-04:00

After having watered down mimosas on Union Street in Park Slope, my good friend Ingrid showed me a new little treasure across the street. Fiber Notion. It's a little boutique filled with designer fabric that's great for quilting, yarn, and amazing notions. They sell cute appliqué, ribbons, and buttons. They will even make buttons for you if you bring in your fabric! The woman at Fiber Notion was very nice. She had enthusiastic explanations for products without seeming pushy.

I bought awesome robot buttons for my boyfriend. I thought they were quite pricey ($16 for 4), but now that I see the buttons on the vest I made for him, I am glad I bought them. He will be the snazziest bassist when he debuts the vest and robot buttons on stage- Wednesday April 23 at Trash Bar in Williamsburg, 10PM *hint hint*!

Welcome.

2008-04-18T11:27:00.004-04:00

Welcome to my new blog. This should be geared towards my crafting, but don't hold me to it.

I like to sew, knit, crochet, solder, drum, sculpt, draw, color, and bake (mainly 'cause i like to eat it). I am not exceptionally good in all these things, nor am i exceptionally great at just one thing. I just enjoy working with my hands and making things for people I love. I think it's greatly therapeutic for me.

I also have a slightly unhealthy obsession with cats, but I technically only own one cat (there are two in my household). I have a full time job which does not allow me to craft as much as I would like, but it pays the bills and I am happy with the people I work for. I live with my boyfriend which has caused me to become much lazier about leaving my apartment. However, I am getting a lot more crafting done than I used to, I'm exercising again, and I am slowly saving money to one day buy a place big enough for me to craft in... at least, that's the goal for now.

I started a website of things I designed about 4 years ago, but it has never quite been finished due to my inability to stick with one thing at a time. I am planning on selling things on Etsy (I am already registered under Buggityboo), but I do not know when this will happen. I am hoping this blog will help me keep track of thoughts and plans and cause me to get my ass in gear faster than having my thoughts roaming around freely.

Enjoy.

welcome to my new life. sorta. not really. whatever.

2008-03-28T11:23:00.001-04:00

love the new job space, hate the 3 hour commute.

huh..
asthma and suicide?

sewing season seems to be in for me. drums haven't been around in months. this must be because of my lack of shows and my lack of ipod. need to get used to this commuter schedule and get off my ass. may have to make a schedule for the 3 hours that i am awake at home. balls.

how can i teach my cats to wash the dishes and sweep the floor?!

cookies and orange soda make me feel better

2008-03-06T16:31:00.000-05:00

work has been so busy that i have lost track of days. i've been sleeping around 10 hours a night too. i wake up refreshed. my day goes by quickly and full of productivity, yet i feel like my mind is on auto pilot. it's not exactly. i've got jobs that are repetitive but highly organized. but i feel like i have absolutely no time to day dream. and i think that is beginning to make me feel weird. makes me feel like i am not thinking on my own because my brain is not thinking its usual imaginary thoughts.

on the plus side, most people in my building are gone. me and the co-workers have been scavenging for free office supplies. it keeps us entertained a little i guess. i scored a tape dispenser. i am strangely happy about that.

-------
a kitty cat i knew passed away. she was by far the sweetest and happiest cat i ever met. she loved both people and cats. she never swatted at any human or cat ever. kiao kiao will be dearly missed.

post valentine's day whatnot.

2008-02-15T10:43:00.000-05:00

yesterday on my way home from work, i realized that valentine's day is a day for people that suck at remembering anniversaries and for people that don't stay in lengthy relationships. maybe if i had started going out with my boyfriend 5 months ago, then we would've celebrated valentine's day the mushy way. but march marks one year of being together and i'd rather just wait for that.

however, i would not refuse some candy... but i know that holiday candy is always cheaper after the holiday, so i would be happier that someone saved money and bought me more candy at a later date. unless it's halloween candy on valentine's.. that's a little too later. which reminds me, nobody better be raiding those cadburry eggs after easter 'cause i'm gonna do a drug store run and stock up.

and who's the asshole that put president's day after valentine's day? how am i supposed to skip town if every couple is celebrating their love for each other on the long weekend? balls!

oh, my valentine's day?
it was a thursday and i had to work and my boyfriend was sick (still is). so i got home tired as always. my boyfriend could barely move. we ordered pizza (his mom gave us 20 bucks for v-day) in the hopes that it would make him feel better (he cannot refuse).. and then he was nauseous the rest of the night. i woke up to him puking around midnight. weeee.

my moral of the story... it's nice to remember things like birthdays and anniversaries and such. it's good to celebrate them. but don't put all your beans on one day and think it's ruined if it doesn't go right. it's just another day. if valentine's were a real holiday, i wouldn't have gone to work.

hmm, i want candy now.

happy lunar new year.

2008-02-07T12:53:00.000-05:00

it is the year of the rat. the first animal on the chinese zodiac. this year is all about renewal and hard work.

last night i ate a bunch of chinese take out. i don't really know how to celebrate chinese new year. all i know is that you thank your ancestors by offering food and burning joss sticks and you ward off evil by making a lot of noise (firecrackers). there's a lot of tradition and superstitions. one superstition is that you don't clean or bathe or else you will wash away your new good luck. my mom's tradition is that you cut your hair and clean everything for a fresh start. no sense in being dirty and unkempt in the new year.

hmm yeah. i expect to eat more chinese food tonight. i miss my family to celebrate with. it just seems more real if i am with them. i only have one asian friend and chinatown is mad crowded. i miss family dinners i guess. weird.

dishing and swishing

2008-01-28T14:42:00.000-05:00

i've been watching a lot of Knicks games this year. and i am actually enjoying them. Walt Frazier helps.

my boyfriend is a jerk.

2008-01-19T14:04:00.000-05:00

he ate my hostess cupcakes and tried to trick me by taping brown felt with icing into the inside of the bag. hmph. kudos for creativity but he's still a jerk face.

it's january..

2008-01-08T12:37:00.000-05:00

and i magically attract january mosquitoes. itch itch itch grumbley poo.

happy man made new year.

february 7th is the year of the rat.

my work building got sold. i will soon be commuting to westchester. i am both happy and mad about this. can't wait to get out of this corporate environment, but not looking forward to commuting a bunch. busy busy busy bee but still sleepy as usual.

i never liked scrabble much, but lately, i've taken a liking to scrabulous. i guess it's because it'll tell me when i am making up words (which is very often) and since i am online, i can look up words that i've never heard of. hopefully this will broaden my vocabulary... doubtful. i've never been one for words. i like making up silly sounds.

i am beginning to think that i am depressed again because i've been spending all of my daylight hours inside an office building. i need to start selling my crafts so that i can stop working for the man.

i am not a vegetarian.

2007-12-04T13:15:00.000-05:00

no sir.

today at work..

2007-10-05T14:29:00.000-04:00

i am knitting a hat. wee.

the darjeeling limited

2007-10-02T13:35:00.000-04:00

i saw the darjeeling limited last night. i liked it a lot. i miss my siblings.

i hate people

2007-10-01T15:10:00.000-04:00

okay, not really. i just get overwhelmed easily. anxious a lot. whatever.

i gotta tell ya, i love the renaissance faire. i love going with friends and dressing up. i like to see the people and vendors from last year. i like to watch people and laugh at them. i like to buy pretty and pointless things. i like to be in the fresh air. i like to eat really bad food. the whole experience is fun for a day. but 20 bucks!? shit yo, i would go more often if it were cheaper!

then there were a couple of bands last week... a place to bury strangers and the secret machines. ya'll should know how i feel about them by now. i had good company too. scored free drinks all night. got home a mess. it was much needed i think. i've been playing domestic for a while and i think i'm starting to get antsy. or so i say today... i might not feel the same way tomorrow. lots of contradictory moods lately.

i also went to the oyster festival thingy on stone street at 9pmish. i should have shown up at 2pm, but my schedule was spent waiting for something else to happen. anyway, i must say i don't think i will be attending this festival next year unless i get there at the start. it was filled with a weird mix of fratlike kids and yuppies. i heard some guy start his conversation with, "so i went to the dave mathews band concert.." i laughed so hard and hoped he heard me. i should've just laughed at his face. but you know how those large drunken people can be... you don't want to laugh in their face for fear of getting punched. anyway, we walked around for about 30 minutes and then i couldn't take it anymore and i had to bolt. i ended up at les halles with my pals and it was sooo much nicer. quiet, good food, and i could enjoy a drink without having to scream or listen to some drunk girl laugh.

now, i know if i had shown up to the oyster fest earlier i would've been sloshed and i would be the drunk girl laughing about something random, but i would like to think i have a little more finesse. the drinking would've given me the balls to laugh at the dave mathews guy and call him a pussy.

...and... something might be brewing... it is october, after all.

catching up...

2007-09-21T10:12:00.000-04:00

i saw my boyfriend's band kinetic play galapagos for the deli magazine party. they were great, but it's my boyfriend.. so maybe you should just come out and see them and judge for yourself. add them as your myspace friend and you'll find out when their next show is. i also got to strap on a snare drum and march up on stage with a horn section. that was a lot of fun, though it made me sad. i want to buy a marching snare and march again. i love marching. it's annoyingly hard but makes me feel proud.

then there was this invitation only show by a particularly awesome local band. i don't want to say who they are so you guys won't get jealous. i went with a couple of very cool people and we drank wine and watched "vintage porn from the past." *is there vintage porn from the future?* their show was really cool. it was small and i was up front, so i thoroughly enjoyed that. we talked with the band afterwards and were silly drunk on wine. it doesn't seem like a lot happened, but the company was fucking awesome.

last night i saw a place to bury strangers at mercury lounge. it was mad packed with a crowd i had never seen before. my favorite new york band got reviewed by pitchfork recently and now they've skyrocketed in popularity. it was a little frightening for me. for once, i was not front and center. grr. their show was fantastic, but the sound was a little off. lots of lows, not enough highs. it was definitely the sound engineer's fault 'cause the band before had the same problem. other than that, it was great. there seemed to be a slight drag in tempo though (and i'm being really anal about that 'cause i've seen them so many times.. and i'm a drummer- i doubt anybody else noticed), but at least nobody was skipping a beat. i would rather have a slight drag than have a clusterfuck of things not in sync. they are definitely the loudest band. i wore foam earplugs and it was still painful.. but painfully good.
also, i think i need to make a fake camera. who are these fucking camera guys pushing me around and standing up front just so they can take good pictures? fuck them. and they are TALL. really fucking tall. there were three dudes last night with professional cameras. wtf!? where did they all come from?! and then there was short girl in the front as usual and some other girl checking her cell phone and taking pictures. pffft. eff them.

it's nice to know that even though my favorite band is getting bigger really fast, they are still looking out for their fans. have you bought their cd yet? i'm thanked in it :)

ludfest

2007-09-11T10:25:00.000-04:00

ludfest was cool. a place to bury strangers only played 4 songs and i didn't dare venture inside of pianos for a free show from the secret machines. i guessed it would be mad packed. the concept was awesome though. i thought there would be more people. i guess it wasn't promoted very well or maybe people don't like free shows during daylight hours? *gasp*

this saturday i'm going to see kinetic at galapagos. it's a deli magazine party.

i love community steak..

2007-09-03T22:34:00.000-04:00

..when it is bloody and has been marinating in jack daniels... and it's being eating by drunk goths reminiscing about what parties they used to go to. i guess i miss that sense of family. there is a light that never goes out.. i wonder where my family is and what they are up to. i wonder what my definition of family will be like in 10 years.

i want to be a turtle.

2007-08-14T10:09:00.000-04:00

my friend bought me a 22" zildjian cymbal bag. now i guess i'm gonna have to get that 22" K dark ride cymbal... should i get the custom dark or the dark medium? hmm.

i'm gonna paint the bag like a turtle shell. it is huge on my back.

spider pig, spider pig

2007-08-10T11:00:00.000-04:00

go watch the simpsons movie.

last night i snuck into a movie for the first time. after watching the simpsons movie, my friends and i snuck into another theater to watch DCI. gawd, we're such geeks. we caught two bands and left when the cadets asked for the hash lines to be repainted. the cavaliers had the best visuals i have seen in terms of full band formations, too bad they had to gay it up with billy joel and an all boy corps.

cymbals

2007-08-06T12:55:00.000-04:00

i am tempted to buy this.
i've only heard the armand hi-hats and i thought they sounded delicious. i couldn't find an armand ride to test out. the custom k dark ride 22" would be my ride of choice, but would that sound good with armand hi-hats? maybe i should just get the full armand pack. afterall, i also liked the armand splash. hmm. what to do, what to do.

or maybe i should just buy a cheaper pack, like the sabian b8's or zildjian zht's. but if i already know what i want, why bother holding myself over with 200 bucks worth of equipment when i will probably upgrade in a fit of rage by the end of the year anyway? then again, i'm not a professional drummer yet.

then again, if i buy expensive things with my own hard-earned money, will i work extra hard to be super awesome on my instruments?

passing the quarter century mark

2007-07-30T11:08:00.000-04:00

thanks to my friends that made it out to my birthday thingy. it wasn't as big as my 21st birthday party, but i felt that it was way more significant. thank you. maybe i will celebrate my birthday more often... so long as it's not actually on the day of my birth 'cause i freak out a little on that day.

here is a blog post that i like today.

kinetic rocks

2007-07-22T21:10:00.000-04:00

k i n e t i c played a fantastic show last night at trash bar. the energy was intense on stage and in the audience. it's just what i needed. they played a set chock full of sexy. opened up with "electrocute" and got the audience hooked and fiending for more.

glad they put together a good set. their last two shows were of their upcoming album. although an album can be really good, sometimes it just doesn't translate well into a live show.
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i'm turning 26 this week. celebrate with me on friday around 8ish/9ish. possibly at cherry tavern. deets to follow.

torrential downpour?

2007-07-18T13:57:00.000-04:00

i think i need galoshes and a new umbrella. wish i remembered to bring socks to work today. oh well. guess it's going to take longer to get over this cold.

sewed someone's pants yesterday. maybe i should've been a tailor.

feel less anxious on the train ever since i got back from berlin. i think i've got a serious idea to leave new york one day... perhaps soon. strange. most people try and get to new york and i'd like to get out... guess i've been here too long. guess i'm feeling worn down.

thoughts on berlin

2007-07-17T12:24:00.000-04:00

1. they aren't too fond of non-whites.
2. they believe that having a window open in hot weather causes a draft and therefore gives you a cold.
3. pastries are tasty.
4. the weather fluctuates hourly.
5. berlin is filled with bears.
6. i like the train system. it's clean and always on time.
7. i like the bathrooms too. never went into an icky bathroom.
8. the music scene blows. if i moved to berlin, i would be a god.
9. wilmersdorf park is my favorite park.
10. the holocaust memorial is my favorite memorial.
11. time with my siblings with no parents near is so much better than the holidays.

catsup? ketchup?

2007-07-16T12:57:00.000-04:00

i don't feel like reviewing anything anymore. in fact, shows have been a bit on hiatus too. lack of money. feeling tired. gotta get my life together. really, all that going out i was doing was very unlike me. i'm a hermit. and i guess all the going out has finally caught up with me. now i am back in my shell. trying to regroup.

recently i went on a couple of trips. a weekend in the catskills and a week in berlin. here are some thoughts...

catskills:
1. off brand aerial spray is amazing.
2. you can carve a mushroom into a pretty souvenir.
3. stepping on mossy rocks under water feels weird.
4. the town of woodstock is overpriced and just for tourists.
5. i want to live in bearsville. or some other rural area, but doesn't bearsville sound awesome?
6. sitting by a campfire in rainy weather is fine by me.

thoughts on berlin will come later...

and i'm living off of grass and the drippings from the ceiling

2007-06-13T12:33:00.000-04:00

yes, there is something in the way. i guess i just haven't felt like writing lately. depression? whatever. so here goes whatever....

the jesus and mary chain @ webster hall- awesome. well, when i came in, i was on the side and it sounded all muffled and lame. then as the show went on (and i moved closer to the stage), it started to sound a lot cooler. thank goodness the crowd was cool. truly die hard fans right there.

a place to bury strangers @ glasslands- intense. they were so intense, they blew out the power three times! incredible. glasslands is a pretty neat space with tons of eye candy. mmm. the stage is pretty wide so you get a good view at all times. but the venue is not deep (when facing the stage) so the volume is a bit high. i like that there is a balcony for my voyeurism.

the drowned committee @ cakeshop- not too shabby. their musical skills are pretty tight, but they're a bit stiff on stage. nervous?- not drunk enough! lots of potential there, but i think they need to play more shows.

jay mankind @ bar matchless- always excellent musicianship. he had a smaller backing band, but they were still good. i like the bigger version though. bar matchless is pretty cool too. if i were in greenpoint more often, i wouldn't mind going there regularly.

zelazowa @ arlene's grocery- uh... i think they were good. i've seen these guys maybe 30 times, and they were always good... so i'm going to guess that they were wicked this night. ha, i was trashed. they were filming for their documentary, so me and a friend got a little belligerent. okay, not belligerent at all, but yes, we were wasted.

skinny puppy @ nokia theatre- i fucking hate nokia theatre. this is the third time i've been there. i like the huge space and the bars, but seeing an actual band there blows. you can't see anything if you're in the mid-back area. they should totally throw parties at nokia theatre, but not live shows. or make the stage higher or something. what's the fun in watching flat screens in the back!? uhg! as for skinny puppy... well, they sure do put on the best theatrics for an industrial band i've ever seen... but they get a little boring after a while. their show at irving plaza 3 years ago was so much better... or maybe was it 'cause i could see? they also had a better set list back then though. i'm just not feeling their newer stuff. (sigh)
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as for me... i love drumming. don't forget to add my band.

this weekend i go camping for the first time. i'm quite nervous. mmmm but i want smores!